I’ve had this conversation maybe 200 times now. Someone sits down—usually a referral from a mate or they found me on LinkedIn—and within five minutes I can tell which camp they’re in. Either crypto’s going to make them rich overnight, or they reckon I’m basically a scammer in a decent shirt.

Both are usually wrong. Here’s what I actually say once we get past the small talk.

What’s the actual problem here?

This kills about 40% of projects on the spot. I ask them to explain what they’re building without using “blockchain” or “decentralised” or “Web3.” Just tell me what it does and why anyone would pay for it.

Lot of blank stares. Lot of “well, it’s like Uber but on the blockchain.” Right, so it’s Uber but slower and more expensive. Brilliant.

The good projects? They can explain the friction they’re removing in plain English. Usually something boring like settlement times or audit trails. Boring’s good. Boring makes money.

The FCA isn’t your enemy

Look, I get it. Regulation feels like someone’s mum turning up at a house party. But I’ve watched it save clients from absolute disasters—dodgy custody setups, AML holes you could drive a truck through, stuff that would’ve ended in fines or worse.

The FCA’s cryptoasset registration requirements aren’t going anywhere. Learn them or get out of the game. The cowboys who ignored compliance? Most of them aren’t around anymore. The ones who built it in from day one are still trading. Funny how that works.

Please, for the love of god, diversify

Yes, I’m a crypto consultant. No, I don’t think you should put everything into digital assets. I’ve seen what happens when people do that. It’s not pretty.

The clients who’ve actually built proper wealth? They treat crypto as one slice of a bigger pie. They’ve got ISAs, they’ve got shares, they’ve got boring stuff that doesn’t move 15% on a Tuesday because someone tweeted something.

I’m not a financial adviser, so I point people toward other sites when they ask about traditional brokers. They do the comparison legwork so I don’t have to pretend I know which platform has the best ISA rates this month.

The tech is the easy bit

Smart contracts can be audited. Wallets can be secured. What actually kills projects is the people stuff. Who makes decisions when it all goes sideways? What happens to the keys if your co-founder gets hit by a bus? Who’s the adult in the room?

I’ve seen technically perfect platforms implode because nobody thought about governance. And I’ve seen janky MVPs succeed because the team had their heads screwed on. The Ethereum governance model is worth studying even if you’re not building on ETH—just to see how the big players handle this stuff.

Slow down

Move fast and break things is how you get hacks. It’s how you get exploits. It’s how you end up on the front page of the Financial Times for all the wrong reasons.

The UK projects I’m proudest of took twice as long as we planned and launched with half the features we scoped. They’re still running. Most of the “move fast” competitors are distant memories and cautionary tales.

Stay informed, but filter the noise

I skim CoinDesk’s policy section most days. Not the price predictions or the meme coin drama—the actual regulatory updates and institutional moves. That’s the stuff that affects real businesses.

If you’re building anything serious, you should also have the Bank of England’s digital currency research bookmarked. Gives you a sense of where the big institutional thinking is headed.

That’s basically it

Blockchain’s useful for specific things. It’s not magic and it’s not a con. It’s infrastructure—and like all infrastructure, it rewards the people who plan properly over the ones who just wing it.

That’s the conversation I wish happened more often in this industry. Would save everyone a lot of time and money.